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A
journalist banned from working for two years, a
daily suspended and nine journalists summoned
Reporters Without Borders condemned government
hounding of the press after an independent
journalist was given a six-month suspended sentence,
a daily newspaper was suspended and nine journalists
summoned.
A high court in Tehran on 1st March upheld a
suspended jail term imposed in March 2004 against
Mohammad Hassan Alipour, editor of the daily Aban,
along with a two-year ban from working. He could end
up serving the sentence since he is being questioned
in a new case.
The daily Nedai Azarabadegan was suspended for two
months by a court in East Azerbaijan Province in
north-east Iran while nine journalists in Iranian
Kurdistan were summoned to appear before the courts.
"On the eve of the 61st session of the UN Commission
on Human Rights, Iran has yet again distinguished
itself as one of the most repressive countries in
terms of press freedom. The summonses and suspended
prison terms act like a sword of Damocles over the
heads of journalists who fail to censor themselves.
"At the least article seen as blasphemous, the
authorities summon journalists to put them in prison
or prevent them from working," said the worldwide
press freedom organisation.
"With nine journalists imprisoned, Iran remains the
Middle East's biggest prison for the profession.
More than a dozen newspapers were suspended in 2004
either temporarily or permanently and at least 60
journalists were summoned by the authorities," it
added.
The head of Tehran's judiciary, Abbas Ali Alizadeh,
said on 28 February that Iran's chief justice,
Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi, had given
instructions that "journalists should not be treated
like criminals". However the following day, Tehran
prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, denied it, saying he had
received "no order to halt suspensions of
newspapers".
Daily Nedai Azarabadegan received its two-month
suspension order from a court in East Azerbaijan
Province around ten days ago. It was also ordered to
pay a fine of 3 million rials (around 257 euros).
Several official bodies had laid complaints against
the paper for "publishing false reports" after it
had criticised the management of some ministers and
exposed several cases of corruption. Its editor,
Abolfazel Vesali, said, "All this harassment is
aimed at silencing an independent and critical
newspaper".
In a separate case, nine journalists were summoned
before a court in Sanandaj, in Iranian Kurdistan,
western Iran for "publishing false reports" and
"blasphemy". They were the former editor of the
Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand,
and eight of his journalists, Tonya Kabovand, Ejlal
Ghavami, Namo Hedayati, Yosef Azizi, Kaveh
Hosinpanahi, Jahangir Hashemi Jamsid Vaziri, Hasan
Amini and Majid Mohamadi. The authorities published
summons notices in the local newspapers, saying that
the journalists had gone into hiding, without even
attempting to send summonses to their homes. Some of
the journalists had previously been threatened with
arrest in June 2004, when the newspaper was
suspended.
http://www.rsf.org
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